Posted on 04/10/2006 10:40:13 AM PDT by weegee
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Ernie K-Doe has some big hurdles to overcome to win his bid for mayor of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans: he lacks the political experience and financial clout of many of his rivals.
He's also been dead for almost five years.
No matter, said the widow of the flamboyant rhythm-and-blues singer and one of the city's most enduring characters as she launched his tongue-in-cheek campaign for the April 22 vote.
"He's the only one qualified -- that's my opinion," Antoinette K-Doe said on Saturday at a rally outside the Mother-in-Law Lounge, the nightclub that bears the name of K-Doe's biggest hit song.
"He gets the job done. The guy has soul," she said as supporters enjoyed live music, beer and heaping helpings of red beans and rice. "And I'm speaking like he's still here because in memories he is still here with us. He gets along with everybody and he makes things happen."
K-Doe's not actually on the ballot but his campaign provides some rare levity in an election widely viewed as the most crucial in the city's nearly three-century history. Mayor Ray Nagin faces 23 challengers with a spectrum of views on how to rebuild from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina seven months ago.
The campaign is vintage K-Doe, the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the World" who died in July 2001 at 65 after a colorful music career. His campaign T-shirts feature him grinning with his trademark long hair cascading over his shoulders, decked out as Uncle Sam. "Vote K-Doe Vote," they blare.
Funds raised from the sale of T-shirts and bumper stickers will go to rebuilding the Mother-in-Law Lounge, which remains a shrine to the man and his music despite being damaged in the floods after Hurricane Katrina, as well as the New Orleans Musicians Clinic.
Born Ernest Kador Jr., K-Doe's major triumph was the chart-topper "Mother-in-Law" in 1961, when he was in league with such R&B stars as James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John and Joe Tex.
He never matched the success of "Mother-in-Law" but became a staple on the rich New Orleans music scene. In the 1990s K-Doe opened the lounge on the edge of the city's Treme neighborhood and it became a favorite of local musicians. It still houses a massive bust of his head even though the interior is gutted to the studs.
Antoinette, 63, said she aims to reopen the lounge for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which starts at the end of this month, regardless of how far along the renovation is.
"Ernie K-Doe was an icon, a legend of New Orleans -- national and international," she said. "His music is great and it still lives on.
"And this lounge is a haven for our musicians, man. They can eat, they can put their music together and they can get in touch with each other."
Hey, a dead guy has to be better than the current Mayor.
His family did not evacuate NOLA during Rita. They held "fort" at the bar (and were among those who some wondered if were alright).
Not everyone who stayed behind in New Orleans did so because they were "unable" to leave. Alex Chilton and Fats Domino also stayed behind.
It wasn't exclusively a disenfranchised poor or black thing.
When I was on a tour of NOLA several years ago, they pointed out that the crypts in the cemeteries will hold entire familes, and therefore Ernie K. Doe is buried with his Mother-in-Law.
That's what he gets for writing that song.... :-)
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